I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a combination child's seat and armrest assembly for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a combination that is reversibly movable from one of a folded position serving as an armrest to a raised position whereby a child may be seated in the assembly. The present invention further relates to a front seat having movable seat back sections. A bed telescoping between the rear seat and the front may also be provided.
II. Description of the Relevant Art
Of increased concern for parents of young children over the last decade has been the application and use of seats for children in motor vehicles. This concern is based on the well-known fact that if small children are not buckled in place in a moving vehicle, particularly in an automobile, this situation presents a potentially lethal accident. Particularly, an unrestrained child acts like a free-moving missile if the car is impacted by another vehicle or if the vehicle strikes a standing object in an accident.
Acknowledging the existence of this problem, many states have enacted laws which require that children of certain ages be buckled into conventional seat belts presently provided in all automobiles.
However, such passenger restraint systems are directed at adults, and while they may have application for use to some extent with older children, conventional seat belts are not practically useable for very small children and infants.
Accordingly, between the time shortly after birth and the time when the child is physically developed enough to be seated and restrained with an adult-sized restraint system, the method of restraining a child must be modified.
Presently it is known to restrain small children and infants into a car seat specifically designed for such passengers. The car seat is a semi-portable chair which preferably has its own built-in seat belt. The semi-portable chair is conventionally positioned in the front seat of an automobile or in the back seat thereof and the provided seat belt is strapped about or through the frame of the car seat. In this manner, the seat is held in place by the conventional restraint system of the automobile, just as an individuals would be held therein. A small child or infant passenger is himself strapped into the child's seat. Conventionally, the child has its back to the direction of travel, and faces the rear window. This arrangement provides for maximum support of the child's as-yet weak neck and related musculature.
This known system suffers from several disadvantages. First, and foremost, the utilization of a car seat is extremely inconvenient because it requires the parents to install and remove the car seat virtually every time a trip is taken. Furthermore, because the contours of many car seats differ from each other, fitting a car seat, which is of supposedly universal design, to the variety of present car seats is very difficult.
Second, and related to the first problem, because of the inconvenience of having to manipulate the car seat, many times parents of young children do not trouble themselves with the installation of the car seat, particularly when they are in a hurry. This results in children often being transported in a vehicle without proper restraint.
Third, such car seats are remarkably expensive and for many people do not provide an affordable option.
Fourth, many times the parents of small children fail to properly situate the child's car seat, thus compounding the problem in the event of an accident whereupon the seat, with a child strapped therein, is itself potentially a missile-like object.
The problems of known car seats are not limited, however, to difficulties in restraint systems. A further very important problem is associated with construction of front bench seats of two-door automobiles. Conventionally, the front bench seat is of the "split type" and is formed of halves. These types of seats have a latching mechanism for maintaining the top half in its upright position when the vehicle is in motion. When a passenger wishes to enter the back of seat of the automobile, it is necessary for him to unlock the latching mechanism, thereby allowing the top half of the back section of the front seat to be tilted forward, so the passenger may enter the rear seat of the automobile.
The latching mechanism is provided on the conventional automobile seat to maintain the top half of the seat in the upright position during a crash condition or other rapid deceleration of the motor vehicle. During such rapid deceleration, a passenger in the back seat may be thrown forward against the top surface of the front back seat section, resulting in a force tending to fold the top half of the back seat forward. This force is transmitted to the latching mechanism, and if the latching mechanism fails, the top half of the back section will fold forward, and the passenger in the back seat may be thrown into the front seat, resulting in further injury to both the back seat and front seat occupants.
Attempts have been made to overcome the problem of potentially dangerous bench seat constructions. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,253 issued on Jan. 25, 1972, to Maule, there is disclosed a passenger seat having a fixed bottom section and a fixed central backrest section with telescoping end sections. Each of the two end sections are slidably mounted for lateral motion into an opening formed on the ends of the central backrest section. An internal frame is provided that comprises a generally flat, vertically extending support having four horizontally extending arms, two on each side of the vertically extending support. Each of the arms is a substantially flat piece that has a longitudinal slot. The end sections include pins that are slidably mounted in the slots. The pins ride in the slots when the end section slides into or out of the central backrest section.
Although an improvement over the technology of the time, the '253 patent suffers from at least two problems. First, the pin and flat bar construction of the internal frame does not provide the greatest possible strength for the frame. Second, it is possible for users, such as children, to get their fingers caught in, for example, the slots defined in the central backrest section provided to receive the headrest.